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THE IDEAL MAN 



THE IDEAL MAN 



J. P. GREENE 

President Emeritus, William Jewell College 
Author of " The Happy Man " 



PHILADELPHIA 



THE JUDSON PRESS 

BOSTON CHICAGO LOS ANGELES 

KANSAS CITY TORONTO 



C- 



c. ' / v *3 



J 1-0 



G-73 



Copyright, 1920, by 
GILBERT N. BRINK, Secretary 



Published October, 1920 



g)CI,A601592 



NOV 20 1820 



~V0 f 



INTRODUCTORY 

Those of us who know Doctor Greene are glad 
that he has spoken these words on The Ideal 
Man, and that they are now to have this wider 
vogue. He is at work on the foundations of life. 
On such a subject he is well able to speak. He 
has the " idea " which is at the heart of his 
" ideal," has grasped the truths in which it has 
its roots and those in which it bears its fruits; 
has that ideal, not as a fascinating object of 
thought, but as the fiber and nerve and bone 
and structure and blood and breath of his be- 
ing. 

Moreover, I would say that the reason he has 
made that ideal his very life itself is that he has 
" seen " it and all its essentially related truths 
vitalized and humanized and perfectly realized in 
" the Man Christ Jesus," who owns Doctor 
Greene, body and soul, and has harnessed and re- 



Introductory 

leased and enlarged and ennobled all his powers 
to " grow up into Him." He has pursued that 
ideal with the ardor of a lover and the zeal of a 
devotee, till, in his personal character and his re- 
lational life — the most intimate and the most 
casual — he illustrates the truths which he de- 
lights to tell. He says " the ideal is unattainable 
but not unapproachable," and we who know him 
believe he has made very effective approaches to 
it in walking by the side of his ideal Master. 

The author possesses the personal qualifica- 
tions for this discussion. His life he has lived in 
the open, with no factitious reservations and con- 
cealments. He is human — can laugh and play 
and pray, can watch the boys at fun and literally 
weep with them in their disappointments. He 
has a rare sense of humor, which is luminous 
without levity; he is grave without dulness, and 
serious without severity. His almost uncanny 
insight into human nature never makes him 
gloomy. He sees into people and still believes 
in them. He has lived into the lives of people 



Introductory 

without dulling his self-consciousness or impair- 
ing his sense of direction. As pastor, college 
president, and teacher he has not only " walked 
with God," but also lived with his fellow men. 

The value of these printed talks is enhanced 
because they preserve the informal, direct, in- 
timate, personal charm of the talker. Even if 
the reader never heard or saw Doctor Greene, 
there will be no difficulty in putting himself in 
the chapel and visualizing the scene in which 
hundreds of splendid young fellows are listening 
intently — smiling, sometimes breaking out in 
hearty laughter, often applauding, always ap- 
proving what that great soul is saying, as he 
pours forth truth in sharp epigram, happy story, 
and compelling appeal. 

It ought to be made possible for every boy and 
girl on this continent to read these talks. 

J. S. Kirtley. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Pagb 

I. Character i 

II. The Desires 9 

III. The Animal Desires (Appetites) . 17 

IV. The Intellectual Desires 25 

V. The Spiritual Desires 33 

VI. The Unpredestinated 41 

VII. The Normal Man 49 

VIII. The Ideal Man 57 



I 

CHARACTER 



A habit is a groove or a line cut in the soul, fixed, along 
which future action is almost sure to run. Many habits make 
an engraving, a permanent picture of the soul-character. 



CHARACTER 

IS it grown, or engraved, or forged ? All these. 
We are born without character, but it soon 
sprouts, and then grows rapidly. The soil is the 
home, the school, the social life, the business 
world — different kinds of soil, each contributing 
its element to the growth of character. Parents, 
teachers, companions, and business associates are 
the character-cultivators, and largely determine 
the quality of the product. But after all, each 
one grows his own character. 

The word " character " is Greek, and means 
" engraved " — an ancient and beautiful concep- 
tion. We, it may be with the help of others, en- 
grave our own characters when we begin to act 
on our own judgment, when we choose and do, 
and thus form habits. A habit is a groove, or a 
line cut in the soul, fixed, along which future 

3 



4 The Ideal Man 

action is almost sure to run. Many habits make 
an engraving, a permanent picture of the soul, 
character. 

It may be truly said, also, that character is 
forged. The human soul is a piece of metal, 
without form and without beauty. Or probably 
it has been engraved without knowledge, and is 
inartistic, ugly. It must be worked over. In 
order to make it right it must go into the hot 
fire and under the big hammer. If properly 
forged, it will come out with a permanent form 
of grace and beauty. False lines and deform- 
ities — bad habits of thought and action — must be 
hammered out. They cannot be brushed off. 

What is " character " ? It is I, what I am, not 
what I seem to be, not what others think me to 
be (this is " reputation "), nor what I desire to 
be, nor hope to be, but just what I am — what I 
have grown into, what has been engraved on my 
soul, the form of my soul-metal as it comes from 
the forge. 

Character is a stable thing. Desiring and do- 



Character 5 

ing form character. But when it is once formed, 
it determines thought and action. If you know 
the character of a man pretty well, you can tell 
what he will do in certain circumstances. A man 
that loves money inordinately is very apt to steal 
if strongly tempted. 

A mood is not character. A transient virtue or 
vice is a mere shadow — a chalk-mark on the soul, 
not an engraved line. Good men have vicious 
moods, and bad men have virtuous moods. You 
have read of the " polite burglar " or the " kind- 
hearted robber." And you have perhaps seen the 
generous man give the needy the " cold shoulder." 
" Judge not the Lord by feeble sense," and do not 
judge your fellow men by their passing moods. 
A man may be much better or much worse than 
he just now seems to be. But what he is will 
come out in the open. Character will triumph ! 

In the great fire in Pera, a Christian suburb 
of Constantinople, June, 1870, Turks vied with 
Christians in trying to save Christian women and 
children. One rich Turk offered a great sum to 



6 The Ideal Men 

any one who would save a Christian boy from a 
burning building. This was a mood. Nature, 
buried and almost crushed beneath a thousand 
strata of religious and race animosities, sprang 
to the surface for a moment and spoke the natu- 
ral language of the soul. But pity for Christians, 
or anybody else, was not and is not a characteris- 
tic of the Turks. 

Here is an old proverb, nearly as old as the 
race: " As he thinketh within himself (in his 
heart), so is he." Will this man steal? That de- 
pends upon how he has been thinking in his heart, 
for a long time. If he has long been willing to do 
almost anything to gratify some desire that calls 
for money, he will probably venture into the re- 
gion of dishonesty. A friend once stopped me on 
the street, and said : " I want to tell you some- 
thing. I have in bank, in my name, nearly two 
million dollars. A company was supposed to be 
bankrupt, and went into the hands of a receiver. 
The stockholders met to plan for their own pro- 
tection. They appointed me to look after their 



Character 7 

affairs. It is all settled. I made the receiver de- 
posit all the money in my name. He protested 
every time, but always yielded. A while ago a 
friend of mine suggested that I could lend this 
vast sum and pocket the interest. It will be 
eighteen months till the final settlement." My 
heart stood still as I said, " Will you do it? " He 
had carried on a large and honest business for 
forty years. What an opportunity for making 
character! He answered in his every-day voice, 
gentle and firm : " I would not do such a thing for 
the whole two million. I am now going to call 
a meeting of the stockholders, to see what they 
want done with their money." 

A majestic oak is beautiful on a calm day in 
June. But as it writhes and groans in the tem- 
pest, it is awe-inspiring. The unseen roots hold. 
Character is rooted in thought. As a man thinks, 
so he is. 



II 

THE DESIRES 



Follow the simple desires. 



THE DESIRES 

DESIRES are the stuff of which character is 
made. Or rather, the treatment of desires 
determines character. 

Deeds spring from desires. We first desire, 
then resolve to obtain the thing desired, then plan 
the course we will pursue, and then act. Desires 
are the mainspring of action. 

We are not responsible for all our desires. 
They come unbidden. We cannot account for all 
of them. Most come through the senses — feel- 
ing, tasting, smelling, hearing, seeing. These 
are the wires. Messages come over them from 
all directions and at all times. Some flit through 
the mind, some come again and again, and some 
abide and claim attention. 

And we are thoroughly wired, especially if 
every sense is keen. Indeed, the mind is a sort 

ii 



12 The Ideal Man 

of wireless station, picking up messages from the 
air — messages not intended for us ! 

Multitudes of desires are entering the mind, 
all the time. It should be so. Unless desires 
awaken us to action, we shall stagnate and retro- 
grade. Nature scatters countless multitudes of 
seeds. She must do this because most of the 
seeds do not germinate, and the green earth 
would become a waste. If many desires did not 
come, we should cease to strive and relapse into 
barbarism. Africa will awaken when its rude 
people begin to desire more and better things. 
Be not dismayed at the multitude of desires that 
force their way into the mind. 

We are not responsible for the messages that 
come over the wires. We did not put up the 
wires, nor do we dictate the messages. But we 
are responsible for what we do with the mes- 
sages. The door is open. All may enter. But 
none may remain without our consent. If we 
welcome a desire and invite it to remain and 
entertain it, we are responsible. 



The Desires 13 

This is the question: What shall we do with 
our desires ? What we do with them makes char- 
acter. 

Subject all desires to close inspection. Many 
are good. Give them a warm reception. Some 
are bad. Do not " give them a hint " to go, kick 
them out. Some are trivial and unimportant. 
They may lead to innocent pleasure, or sin. Sort 
them all out, and label them with their proper 
value. 

It is not so difficult to do this, if we have the 
will. The mind knows how. Estimating is its 
business. Give it a fair chance. Do not look 
on and giggle. Do not reason unfairly. And 
do not be deceived by appearances. Fair-looking 
things may be foul. And " the ugly duckling " 
may grow into a beautiful bird. Use your mind. 
Call up past experiences. Think of the words 
and example of others. Seek the counsel of 
wiser persons. And pray, " Lead us not into 
temptation! " Do faithful and honest and ac- 
curate thinking. Get all the light possible. 



14 The Ideal Man 

It is a transparent deceit to fall back on con- 
science. Many do this. Men have tortured 
others in obedience to conscience. A little reflec- 
tion would have saved them from this error. 

Conscience is not our guide. It is the voice 
within that says, " You ought," or " You ought 
not." It should not speak until the judgment has 
spoken. A sheriff should not hang a man till the 
judge has pronounced sentence. Mobs hang men 
before they are tried, conscientiously too. Judge 
justly, then let conscience speak. Get all the 
facts. Turn on all the light. Drive out hate and 
superstition. They prevent just judgment. 

But when a just judgment is reached, after an 
honest endeavor, hear the voice of conscience. It 
will speak. Heed it. If it is not heeded, it will 
become seared. But it will not die. It will live 
through all eternity. " You ought," or " You 
ought not," is the never-dying and never-silent 
categorical imperative of the soul. We must 
heed this imperative or suffer. And if we allow 
conscience to speak without a just judgment, it 



The Desires 1 5 

will cry out against us after the light has come 
and revealed the deception. Paul followed his 
conscience when he persecuted good, innocent 
people; and when the light came and revealed his 
awful error, the same conscience condemned 
what he had conscientiously done. " I did it 
ignorantly in unbelief," and " I am less than the 
least of all saints," " because I persecuted the 
church of God." 

This last word: Follow the simple desires. 
Many people want too much. We do not need 
much, certainly not all that other people have. 
Be content with simple pleasures and comforts. 
I once saw a ragged, barefooted negro youth 
walking along the street puffing a cigar. He 
looked triumphant. " A long-felt want " had 
been met. Ridiculous? Yes, but a type. Many 
people who are riding in automobiles are just as 
ridiculous. They cannot afford it. Having two 
good legs, be therewith content — unless you can 
really afford to ride! 



in 

THE ANIMAL DESIRES 



It is man's first duty to be a good animal. 



THE ANIMAL DESIRES 
(appetites) 

IT is man's first duty to be a good animal. 
There are three kinds of desires — animal, 
intellectual, and spiritual, all essential to perfect 
manhood. 

The animal comes first. Man is born a small, 
weak animal with a huge appetite for nourish- 
ment and a potential intellect and soul. Growing 
is his passion. Food! More food! Why so 
voracious? His potentialities impel him. Intel- 
lect and soul will soon appear. The body is the 
workshop of the mind. A life is to be built, and 
the foundation must be ready. A character is 
to be grown, and there must be good soil for it. 
The animal is the basis of the intellectual and 
spiritual. " A sane mind in a sound body." So 
the " abdominal temperament " of the child is 

19 



20 The Ideal Man 

divinely appointed. He must grow. He is get- 
ting ready for business. 

The appetite for nourishment appears first; 
then the recreational and social desires — play and 
companionship; last, the sex desire — the holiest, 
strongest, and most dangerous. Connected with 
it are our sweetest and holiest relations — hus- 
band, wife, father, mother, children, home. God 
has enshrined it in " the holy-of-holies " of our 
souls. Modesty guards it. Woe to him who 
thinks or talks about it in a vulgar way! And 
cursed is he who violates its sanctity! Better 
play with fire in a powder-magazine. Retribu- 
tion is awful and sure. Behold the wreckage of 
shattered characters and homes. 

The recreative and social desires are innocent 
and wholesome. Play bubbles up in the healthy 
child and overflows. Growing is expansive. 
Children used to sit on high, hard benches and 
struggle with insipid lessons. For recreation, 
boys stuck pins in other boys, and philosophically 
took their dose of " hickory tea." Now school 



The A nim a I D e sires 2 1 

children are taught to play. Parents and teach- 
ers are getting back to nature. Fun must have a 
vent ! 

And nature calls for companionship. " One 
man, no man." One boy — trouble! " Avoid evil 
companions! " Certainly. But pick good ones. 
Help the boy to find his kind. I once saw a cage 
with this inscription, " The Happy Family." In 
it were a monkey, a cat, a dog, a rabbit, and a 
rooster. The monkey was hugging the cat for 
pastime. The cat was indifferent. None was 
happy. Every one wanted to get out and join his 
kind. A collection of miserable animals! Cages 
for children are evil institutions. Cage-life pro- 
duces poor animals and misfit men. 

The appetite for food and drink is the first and 
most enduring — nature's call for replenishment. 
Activity and time exhaust strength. A locomo- 
tive must have fuel. The body calls for food 
and drink. The mind decides the kind and quan- 
tity, but nature blows the dinner-horn — tells us 
when to eat. 



22 The Ideal Man 

Eating is a pleasure. And nature supplies 
food in abundance and variety. But here is our 
danger. We have sought out many inventions. 
Many recipes for dainties ! The cook-book is our 
Bible! 

Water is nature's drink. But look at our 
brews and concoctions. We even cultivate an 
appetite for the unnatural and poisonous. No 
one ever enjoyed his first drink of whisky. The 
" inherited-taste " plea is a slander on nature. 
Every child cries for water, but none ever cried 
for whisky. 

An old prophet of Crete said of his country- 
men, " Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle 
gluttons." An evil trinity for the destruction 
of character. Excess bewilders the brain and 
deadens the soul. 

I have heard this business maxim, " First give 
a man a big dinner, and then do business with 
him." But do not eat much yourself, or he may 
do business with you ! A full stomach, an empty 
brain. A lean dog for a long chase. No doubt 



The Animal Desires 23 

the Cretans spurned the prophet, probably burned 
him. 

Daniel refused " the king's meat," " dainties." 
He ate simple food, and built up a good body and 
a good moral and religious character. Drunken- 
ness and gluttony weaken and degrade both body 
and soul. Control of the appetites is essential to 
efficiency. A commander-in-chief dismissed sev- 
eral of his subordinates, and gave the reason, 
" Too fat ! " Men that love the table and the bot- 
tle, " cafe generals," cannot carry on a successful 
campaign. Must see straight to shoot straight. 
If a man cannot eat and drink right, what is he 
fit for? 

' The king's meat " has made " evil beasts, idle 
gluttons " of millions, yet millions more are cry- 
ing for these " dainties." 

After thousands of years of daily experience 
man has not yet learned how to eat and drink. 
We know what to feed our cattle in order to 
make " top-notch " beef, but do not know what 
we should eat. Don't even know how to chew ! 



IV 
THE INTELLECTUAL DESIRES 



Usually bright feathers mean tough meat. 



THE INTELLECTUAL DESIRES 

WHILE it is man's first duty to be a good 
animal, it is his second and most solemn 
duty to be more than an animal. He has a mind, 
and mind lifts him infinitely above the brute. 

The man that said, " The more I see of men 
the better I like dogs," was a cynic or buffoon. 
The dog is a noble animal, the only one that really 
loves man. I prefer him to the ape as a near- 
ancestor. But he is man's pet, not his companion. 
When Adam named the animals, as they passed 
before him, he found none a helpmeet for him- 
self. 

The mind dwells in the body and dominates 
and uses it. It cannot move and mold matter. 
Some fancy that mind is all, and matter does not 
really exist. They would kill disease-germs, if 

there be such things, by thought. Better leave 

27 



28 The Ideal Man 

things as they seem to be and are. We cannot lift 
ourselves by our bootstraps. 

There are many intellectual desires. The first 
to appear is the desire to know. The child is an 
incorrigible inquirer, a veritable interrogation- 
mark. His mind is even more voracious than his 
stomach. Feed him on " convenient " mental 
food, and plenty of it. But he will call for more! 
He wants to see the wheels of the very universe 
go round. 

Articulate speech follows the desire to know. 
The child struggles up out of his inarticulate 
state, word by word. Mind invents an adequate 
vocabulary for its ideas. The dog's language is 
a bark and a wag of the tail, enough for him, and 
all that he will ever have. Man has made a 
dictionary and is ever enlarging it. 

All children thirst for knowledge. Give all of 
them all they want! But many get very little. 
They have to " stop school " and enter the strug- 
gle for bread. The interrogation-mark is 
changed to a period. And some ignorant parents 



The Intellectual Desires 29 

and friends think a little is enough — " just 
enough to make a living " ! Arrested develop- 
ment ; stunted minds, largely at the mercy of the 
animal desires. 

But this is not so bad as the educated brute. 
If a man will live for his appetite, let him 
remain ignorant. Such ignorance is indeed 
bliss. Imagine a man-eating tiger with the 
mind and knowledge of a man! An educated 
libertine! 

With the desire to know comes the desire to do. 
Nature has united knowing and doing in holy 
bonds. " What God has joined together, let not 
man put asunder!" But the theorist and the 
practical man have always been at outs, and I 
suppose will always be so. Architects and build- 
ers cannot get along together. 

But " knowledge puffs up " ? I am sorry it is 
so. Educated men have a weakness for caps and 
gowns and degrees. The peacock has beautiful 
feathers, but he is the most ridiculous of birds. 
It is hard to believe that he is " good to eat " ! 



30 The Ideal Man 

Usually bright feathers mean tough meat. " An 
aristocracy of learning " — and this when the 
cock-of-the-walk business is playing out! Sensi- 
ble men ask what we can do. Even theology must 
be practical nowadays. 

The desire to excel is an intellectual desire — 
laudable, too. And superiority brings power. 
Here men are tempted. Power is a responsi- 
bility, not a privilege. A lust for power is am- 
bition, an intellectual vice. 

Money, knowledge, and position give men su- 
premacy over others. All these properly used do 
the world good. But ambitious men seek them 
for the sake of power. Why should men want 
vast wealth? And why should the rich display 
wealth? They would make others bow to them. 
They would rather be hated than loved. Very 
few rich men do good with their fortunes. And 
their children constitute a dangerous class, " the 
idle rich/' It is an abasement of the intellect to 
devote its powers to the acquisition of great 
wealth. 



The Intellectual Desires 31 

But do the men of knowledge " make a better 
showing " ? The scientific achievements of the 
last few decades are astounding. They show 
that the mind is fearfully and wonderfully made. 
But what were scientists doing in the months of 
the World War? Many of them devoted their 
vast knowledge and inventive genius to making 
new and mightier instruments of destruction. 
And they made gain of great riches through 
the prostitution of their knowledge. Science has 
gone mad. Certainly the hope of saving the 
world through knowledge has vanished into thin 
air! 

And the men of position, the rulers? Well, 
from Tiglath-pileser down to his modern antitype 
we know what they have done for the human 
family. What " the ignorant masses " have done 
is a joke compared with their bloody deeds. The 
rulers crucified our Lord! And crucifying has 
been the principal business of many of them, as 
far back as the memory of man runs. 



THE SPIRITUAL DESIRES 



Generosity is the first breath of spirituality. " No man lives 
to himself " because he cannot. 



THE SPIRITUAL DESIRES 

SPIRITUAL desires are just as natural as the 
animal and intellectual desires. 

A tree has roots, trunk, and branches. With- 
out branches it would be a monstrosity, and fruit- 
less. The spiritual part is the crown and glory 
and fruitage of our nature. 

The spiritual desires arise early, along with the 
intellectual. When did you first desire to be 
good? When you first discovered that you were 
wrong! The animal in you " appropriated " an- 
other child's apple. It tasted good, and your 
mind justified your appetite. But your soul con- 
demned you. You wronged another, and worse, 
you were wrong! What a painful revelation! 
Then came a decision : " I will never do so 
again ! " Here a standard was erected. The 
spiritual began its ascent. 

35 



36 The Ideal Man 

At first the standard was low or wrong. But 
there was a standard. There is something in us 
to nail to — spiritual capacity. Time and experi- 
ence bring knowledge, and the standard rises. A 
converted cannibal was asked how human flesh 
tasted. The sudden recall to the cannibalism of 
his youth sent a thrill of horror through his 
frame. His standard had risen so high that it 
made him dizzy to look down to the dismal depths 
of other years. 

Along with the desire to be good comes the 
desire to do good. Generosity is the first breath 
of spirituality. Contact with others reveals their 
needs and calls for our help. Our souls respond. 
Association does not compel us to help, nature 
does it. Association is simply the appropriate 
setting of the soul. " No man lives to himself " 
because he cannot. If we could not find human 
beings to help, we would explore the jungles and 
beg the wild beasts to accept our ministrations. 
The desire to do good is insatiable and eternal. 

" Spiritually minded " has become too theolog- 



The Spiritual Desires 37 

ical and vague. Simeon, the " pillar saint," spent 
thirty-seven years on the top of a pillar, about a 
yard square, living on one meal a week, and ex- 
posed to all sorts of weather. Wonderful endur- 
ance, but a caricature of spirituality. He ought 
to have been hauled down and put to work. 
Pillar saints are useless — and not even ornamen- 
tal. Unselfish work for others is spirituality. 
A spiritually minded bricklayer said, " I cannot 
leave a brick until I know it is comfortable." He 
put his soul into the walls he built, and they 
stood! 

Love is the essence of spirituality. It is the 
giving virtue. It compels us to communicate our 
good things. Compassion made the Good Sa- 
maritan minister to the man that " fell among 
robbers." Priest and Levite had " religion " but 
no compassion, and they consistently " passed by 
on the other side." Loveless ministrations are 
wicked, worse than none. 

" God is love." He is the great Giver. His 
power and compassion are infinite. He rejoices 



38 The Ideal Man 

in giving his sunshine and rain to all, the just and 
the unjust. And no good thing does he withhold 
from the upright. Would he even die for needy 
men? He can appropriately say, " Love your 
enemies! " " If thine enemy hungers, feed him; 
if he thirsts, give him drink." Do as the great 
Giver does! 

Love is the noblest passion of the soul. It 
lifts us up and sets us on the very pinnacle of 
spirituality. But here we need to keep our heads. 
In one giddy moment we may be tempted to cast 
ourselves down, expecting angels' wings to bear 
us up. Angels do not protect foolhardy enthu- 
siasts. They are busy helping sensible people to 
do good. Acrobatic piety is spectacular but 
dangerous. Walk down from the pinnacle. This 
is the natural and divine way. 

And " quench not the Spirit." Give love a 
chance ! Two farmers with young families lived 
on adjoining farms. They fell out about a line- 
fence. Each built a rail fence as near the line 
as possible. The fences formed a narrow and 



The Spiritual Desires 39 

crooked lane, called a " devil's lane." The devil 
made it, and he alone could travel it ! For years 
the families were estranged. Finally one of the 
men came to his death-bed. He sent for his 
neighbor and said, " It was my fault! " " No! " 
said the neighbor, " it was my fault ! " The 
dying man implored : " Please take away that 
devil's lane ! It has fenced you out of my life and 
pretty nearly fenced me out of heaven. I want 
my sun to set clear." Neighborly love had its 
way at last! Why should neighbors, or nations, 
in a fit of anger, build a " devil's lane "? Love 
will finally remove it. " Love never f aileth ! " 
" Let not the sun go down upon your wrath ! " 
Approaching twilight calls mightily for love and 
peace! 



V 
THE UNPREDESTINATED 



The natural life is God's plan of life. 



THE UNPREDESTINATED 

THEY are the abnormal, the unnatural. The 
natural life is God's plan of life. Some do 
not get into the plan. All their deeds seem aim- 
less, accidental, and futile. They always do the 
unnatural and unreasonable thing. Give them a 
fool-proof machine to run, and they get wound 
up in it, in a few minutes. Why? Just seem 
to be " unpredestinated " ! 

A man without strong desires will accomplish 
nothing. Just wanting something is no motive- 
power — it gets nowhere. There must be plenty of 
" juice " of the explosive kind. And a man must 
govern all his desires. A mighty driving desire 
must be under strict control and kept in the road 
with a firm hand, else there will be a crash and 
a spill. 

We must work, according to the plan. " In 

43 



44 The Ideal Man 

the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." 
Write this large and learn it well. It is the 
divine law, inexorable and unalterable. 

Many imagine they can " climb up some other 
way " — porch-climbers. The plan does not suit 
them. They prefer a by-path or near-cut to the 
big road. Sweating is disagreeable and distaste- 
ful. They will get their bread by their wits, 
without toil — steal, gamble, " promote," " run for 
office," " tramp " ! They want bread, with butter 
and jam, without labor. But they cannot defy 
the " plan." Every subterfuge will fail in the 
end. God and nature say, " If any will not work, 
neither let him eat " ! Such will probably come 
at last to " bacon and beans " in the penitentiary! 

" Unpredestinated " does not mean that God 
is arbitrary. He is gracious toward all. Nor 
does it mean that the plan is hard and exclusive. 
It is easy and simple and natural. The workers 
find it so. And they get the bread. They do 
not always get a full material reward, nor do 
they always wisely use the fruits of their labors. 



The Unpredestinated 45 

Think of this country spending $2,000,000,000 
annually for drink! Enough to build 800,000 
houses, each costing $2,500! " Wherefore do ye 
spend money for that which is not bread ?" 
Nevertheless the workers get more than the 
" porch-climbers " and spend it to better purpose. 
And honest toil has its own reward. 

" The unpredestinated " make excuses : " Fate 
is against me! " " I inherited my defects." Poor 
business, laying our failures on fate or ancestors. 
The road is plain and easy to travel. It is hard 
sledding out of the road. We should not walk in 
the gutter. A blind man, with a cane, can keep 
on the sidewalk. Stick to the plan. " A way- 
faring man, though a fool, need not err therein." 

What can be done for " the unpredestinated " ? 
Set them right on the inside. A clock will not 
keep time when its works are out of order. " Ye 
must be born again ! " This is not simply theo- 
logical. It is mysterious, but perfectly reason- 
able and natural. Never mind about heredity, 
environment, evolution, and so forth. Get the 



46 The Ideal Man 

heart, the purpose, and the will to follow the plan. 
Men are " born again " every day. Hurrah for 
the thousands that get the new heart, the new 
strength, and the new song! 

But the predestinated have no room for boast- 
ing. They are in the plan, and should be happy — 
and humble. How did they get in? Probably 
just tumbled in! No matter. It is the plan that 
counts ! And " the unpredestinated " need not be 
envious. A man is chosen because he is fit. 
They too will be chosen for the thing they are 
fitted to do. Let them " get busy " and become 
worthful. 

A captain in the Philippines received orders 
from his colonel to select twenty men and break 
up a band of robbers. He drew up the company 
and chose his men. Of course every man hoped 
to be chosen. Those that were not, shed tears. 
The captain said : " Boys, I have selected the best 
men for this job. If I had another kind of job, 
I would not select these men but some of you. 
Don't feel bad. Your time may come any day." 



The Unpredestinated 47 

All that can " do things " are predestinated unto 
what they can do. But how can God or man use 
an ignoramus, or a fool, or a sluggard, or a vil- 
lain! " If the salt have lost its savor ... it is 
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out 
and trodden under foot of men. ,, 

The cuckoo is a lazy, unnatural bird. She de- 
posits her tgg in another bird's nest, and then 
sneaks around in the dense foliage and makes a 
doleful noise. A pair of robins hatch their eggs 
and feed their young — and perhaps a cuckoo or 
two. They carry about four hundred bugs a day 
to their young — and never call themselves " the 
Lord's anointed." They simply follow the plan, 
and like it. And robins are numerous and happy 
and respected. Cuckoos are few and miserable 
and contemptible. And the human cuckoo? 
Well, he is " unpredestinated " ! 



VII 
THE NORMAL MAN 



The normal man sees life whole, and tries to live a whole life. 



THE NORMAL MAN 

THE normal man is the one that has all the 
desires — animal, intellectual, and spiritual — 
and controls them and uses them according to 
nature. 

Robert Burton says that most great men are 
dishonest, meaning vicious. He mentions many 
names and indicates their vices. They failed to 
govern their appetites. Why are so many gifted 
people immoral ? Applause seems to " turn their 
heads." They can write, or speak, or sing, or 
act, or command, or preach, and therefore they 
are not subject to the moral law. And the public 
excuses them! 

The ancients made much of self-control, one of 
their four cardinal virtues. It is the will in ac- 
tion, holding us to the natural. It makes us come 
up to the mark and forbids us to go over it. 

51 



52 The Ideal Man 

" Thou shalt! " and " Thou shalt not! " It is like 
walking a plank over a deep chasm. The plank is 
strong enough, and wide enough. But it has no 
balustrade. Wabbling is dangerous. One can 
fall off on either side. Keep on the plank, and as 
near the middle as possible. Just be natural, no 
less, no more. 

Keep the appetites normal. The animal de- 
sires come first, and our first struggle is with 
them. Perfect control of them is difficult and 
rare. Some do not get a fair start and have to 
fight one or more appetites all their lives. In- 
dulgence of one weakens control over others. 
Millions fall off the plank on one side or the 
other. The chasm has swallowed multitudes and 
yawns for more ! An appetite may be suppressed, 
and suppression is not so disastrous as indul- 
gence. But regulation, according to nature, is the 
thing. Asceticism is contemptible, but not com- 
mon. Debauchery is common and detestable 
and deadly! 

Samson was a magnificent animal, with little 



The Normal Man 53 

mind and almost no soul. He hated the Philis- 
tines, and yet could not keep away from them. 
They put out his eyes and made him do the work 
of an ass ! In the end he pulled down the temple 
of Dagon on the Philistines and himself. His 
last prayer, " Let me die with the Philistines," 
was answered. There was no other way! He 
reminds us of an astute brute caught in a trap. 
The mind must hold the reins of appetite. It 
must also govern itself. The engineer must gov- 
ern himself if he would control his locomotive 
and run his train in safety. Most wrecks by 
appetite can be traced to a weak, ungoverned 
mind. Train the mind to judge and act right. 
Who would ride behind an ignorant locomotive 
engineer? But a man may use his training in 
the wrong way! He may be viciously unsafe. 
Who would ride behind a crazy engineer? 
" Knowledge," " science," " culture " — words we 
conjure with! But they are often pressed into 
the service of ambition and appetite. The edu- 
cated man a mere pragmatic fiend! What degra- 



54 The Ideal Man 

dation! The plea is, "We must have bread!" 
Of course, and we must work and pray for it. 
But " Man shall not live by bread alone. ,, The 
normal man sees life as a whole, and tries to 
live a whole life. 

Many a man pretends to have serious doubts 
about the existence of his spiritual nature. When 
he discovers his soul, he makes a distinct gain. 
It is like finding the finest fruit on a tree where 
he supposed there was none. But the discovery 
imposes new responsibilities. Spiritual desires 
must be regulated. None of " the tricks of 
trade " here! Sober reason demands a sincere 
and well-balanced spiritual life. We cannot ob- 
serve a few religious forms and then dismiss the 
matter. Neither dare we run riot in " feeling," 
and imagine we are good because " we feel good." 
Even the supernatural is not unnatural. 

The normal spiritual man is one that has love 
and wisdom and power, in equipoise. Love that 
does nothing is vain. Power alone may prove 
to be a wild steam-roller. Love and power with- 



The Normal Man 55 

out wisdom may be either futile or harmful. Be- 
hold the compassionate rich wasting their money 
in unreasonable schemes of relief! Their inten- 
tion is good, but they have no gumption. Wis- 
dom should make the plans and sign all checks. 

We admire " the good Samaritan." He had 
the heart to help, and the oil and wine to heal, 
and the beast to carry the wounded man, and the 
strength to nurse him, and the money to pay the 
bills. 

Was there ever a normal man ? One that could 
rule all his desires, and be perfectly natural? 
Where is the man of infinite love and infinite 
wisdom and infinite power? Surely "he is the 
desire of all nations "! You want to see Him? 
You need him ? Well, search for him ! " He is 
not far from every one of us! " He is " the Son 
of man " and " the Son of God — The Ideal 
Man"! 



VIII 
THE IDEAL MAN 



The ideal is unattainable but not unapproachable. 



THE IDEAL MAN 

IS there a man plan? God gave Moses a plan 
for the tabernacle, and commanded him to 
build it in strict accordance with that plan. We 
employ an architect to make a house plan, and 
we put the builder under contract to build the 
house according to the plan. Has God given us 
a plan for a real man, the best man? Man-build- 
ing is certainly the greatest business on earth, 
and it is reasonable to suppose that there ought 
to be a divine plan. 

There are a great many poor houses, appar- 
ently built without any definite plan, incon- 
venient, and constructed of poor material by 
careless and incompetent workmen. So there are 
many poorly built men. They are not formed ac- 
cording to any well-defined plan, but seem to 
have "just growed," in a haphazard way. 

59 



60 The Ideal Man 

" They are the product of environment," some 
say. They seem to think that environment is 
omnipotent. Environment influences character, 
but the building of manhood is not its province. 
Have you never seen a miserable shack stuck in 
among good houses on a good street? And it is 
not uncommon to see a shack of a man where he 
is out of harmony with his surroundings of worth 
and excellence. 

The word " ideal " is a sort of red rag to prac- 
tical people. It makes them mad, and they lower 
their horns and rush at it. " Existing in the 
imagination only," is their definition. No doubt 
many ideals never materialize. And some ideal- 
ists are a nuisance. But, after all, everything 
must first exist in the mind. Every house is 
visualized by the imagination before it is built. 
Many " castles in the air " have remained in the 
air, but all the real castles were first built in the 
air. Let us wait and see whether the " castle in 
the air " will come down to earth or not. When 
Chicago was a small, miserable town, an enthu- 



The Ideal Man 61 

siastic " idealist " used to walk the muddy streets 
and describe the future great city — to the merri- 
ment of the " practical people." But he was 
right, only he did not have the power to imagine 
the half of it! 

There is another definition of " ideal " — " the 
highest and best conceivable, the perfect." Can 
there be any objection to this. We never arrive 
at the best and quit. As we approach it, it 
moves up. We never quite reach it, but we keep 
on trying to do so. The old expression, ne 
plus ultra — " nothing beyond " — will not work. 
Standpatters have been shouting it, loud and 
long, but men of imagination, " idealists," have 
never paid any attention to them. They say, 
'Where are you going to land?" Our reply 
is, " We are not going to land at all ! " The Bud- 
dhist has a hope that he will land in Nirvana, 
complete quiescence, absorption, annihilation. 
Laziness inspired this creed. Even a blind man 
wants to go somewhere and tries hard to keep 
out of the ditch. " Excelsior " is the motto of 



62 The Ideal Man 

the living; " ne plus ultra" is an epitaph — and 
not a very good one! We boldly inscribe 
" Hope " even on the tombstone! 

The great Teacher said, " Ye therefore shall 
be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." 
But we cannot be perfect as God. He knew we 
could not. " Why then did he tell us to strive 
for divine perfection ? " Because the striving is 
the main thing. He set this mark in order that 
we may strive on forever. We need to " play the 
game." Suppose he had set up a human stand- 
ard — " Be perfect as Abraham " ? But Abraham 
was not perfect! It would not take us long, in 
our estimation, to catch up with him, or pass him ! 
God's standard of perfection is ever ascending. 
He could not give us a higher ideal, and he was 
too wise and too good to give us a lower one! 
The ideal is unattainable, but not unapproach- 
able. We never get there, but we are always 
getting nearer. " Not that I have already ob- 
tained, or am already made perfect : but / press 
on!" Why do not the "air men" quit trying 



The Ideal Man 63 

to fly higher? They cannot quit! They would 
not quit if they were to reach Mars! 

Yes, there is a man plan, a perfect ideal, di- 
vinely provided, the infallible pattern of true 
manhood. The plan is a real man, not a mere 
theory. John described Him as " that which we 
have heard, that which we have seen with our 
eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands 
handled/' Real, not imaginary! His followers 
did not always understand him, or realize fully 
who he was. He was so much like them, in his 
daily life, that they underestimated him. But 
one day he took Peter and James and John with 
him up into a high mountain, and was trans- 
figured before them. " His face did shine as the 
sun, and his garments became white as the light." 
And Moses and Elijah appeared, talking with 
him. Peter, " not knowing what he said," was 
so amazed that he proposed to build three taber- 
nacles, one for Jesus, and one for Moses, and one 
for Elijah, putting them on the same level. But 
a voice came out of the cloud : " This is my be- 



64 The Ideal Man 

loved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye 
him!" Moses and Elijah vanished, and the dis- 
ciples " saw no one, save Jesus only! " Here is 
another pattern, not of a meeting-house, but of a 
man, " given in the mount," to be followed im- 
plicitly by all those that desire to be perfect. It 
is not " a castle in the air," but a real, practical 
model, a living man " who was tempted, or tried, 
in all points like as we are, yet without sin." 

Our Ideal Man lived the common human life. 
How did he behave himself? We want to see 
him in action. Well, we have an ample record 
of his daily life. 

He grew up in a poor family and worked at 
the carpenter's trade, and, as it appears, he was 
the main support of his mother and brothers and 
sisters for years. His reputation was good — 
he grew in favor with God and man. The Naza- 
renes rejected him as Messiah, or prophet, but 
never charged him with dishonesty or poor work. 
He made good in the family and in the work- 
shop, where so many fail. 



The Ideal Man 65 

Self-control is essential to success. Before en- 
tering upon his public ministry the Ideal Man 
retired to the wilderness to fight for control over 
his animal, intellectual, and spiritual desires. 
Any man that cannot control his desires will go 
down in the battle of life. 

His first fight was with hunger — the appetite 
for food. He had fasted forty days, and had a 
raging hunger. The tempter suggested turning 
stones into bread. Why not ? He had the power, 
and he needed the bread. But a word of God 
came to him : " Man shall not live by bread 
alone! " His power was a trust, given to him to 
be used for others, not for himself! Something 
more important than bread ! Wait a while. God 
will give the bread. Even then angels were ready 
to minister to him! Hunger did not drive him 
to misuse of his power. 

The next struggle was with that strong abnor- 
mal intellectual desire, ambition, the love of 
power. The tempter showed him all the king- 
doms of the world and the glory of them. " I 



66 The Ideal Man 

will give you all these if you will worship me. 
Believe as I do, that might is right. You have 
the power. You came to conquer the world. 
Take it by force, at once ! " He was indeed a 
king. And it was the purpose of God to give him 
all the kingdoms of the world. But his kingdom 
is different — a kingdom of righteousness and 
peace. And he was to conquer it by love, not by 
force. Another word of God came to mind. 
" Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
only shalt thou serve ! " So ambition was sub- 
dued. 

Then came that subtle temptation, an abnormal 
spiritual desire, presumption. He was standing 
on the pinnacle of the temple, looking down on 
the throng, assembled from every nation, Jews 
and proselytes, to worship God. " The mills of 
God grind too slowly ! It takes a long time to get 
results. These people desire signs and wonders. 
If I were to cast myself down among them, the 
angels would bear me up, and land me safely on 
the pavement. This great miracle would con- 



The Ideal Man 67 

vince them, and they would go home and pro- 
claim my fame to the ends of the earth! In this 
spectacular, sensational way I could do more mis- 
sionary work than my disciples could do in cen- 
turies !" But another word of God: "Thou 
shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God! " 
Serve God in his way. Do not presume. 
" Keep back thy servant from presumptuous 
sins." 

These temptations were the crucial test. They 
tried his metal. " He that ruleth his spirit is bet- 
ter than he that taketh a city." This Royal Man 
was setting out to conquer his desires. He 
showed his wisdom and power, and had within 
his heart the assurance of final victory over the 
world. " He returned with the power of the 
Spirit ! " And in that power he went forth into the 
common life of the people, and faced every trial 
and met every obligation. Toil and strife and 
suffering awaited him. We have his record for 
three years and a half — not all that he said and 
did, but enough to give a true picture of his life. 



68 The Ideal Man 

Not one unwise word did he utter, not one wrong 
or selfish deed did he do, not one mistake did he 
make! He was always right, always patient, al- 
ways sympathetic, always just, always courage- 
ous, always triumphant! The bitter criticisms 
of his enemies are on record, and serve to illus- 
trate his virtues. 

But was he not too far above us, a sort of 
superman, too high for our imitation? No. He 
was just a plain human being. He thought as we 
think, he felt as we feel, he desired as we desire. 
He was grieved at the stupidity of his disciples. 
He was indignant at the opposition of the Phar- 
isees and scribes, he was grateful for the favors 
of his friends, and he shrank from the horrors of 
the crucifixion — just as human as we are. And 
he acted in all circumstances just as we wish we 
could. Pilate tried hard and long to find an ex- 
cuse for condemning him, but had to admit, 
" I find no fault in this man! " We must agree 
with him. We certainly have found the ideal 
man. After his death on the cross the old Roman 



The Ideal Man 69 

centurion gave his verdict, and it will stand till 
the end of time, and forever : " Truly this man 
was the Son of God! " This Ideal Man has a 
word for you: " Follow me! I am the way, the 
truth, and the life!" 



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